[crazy longhorn]

Originally posted by jewels.

yes - you are correct --- i was taught how to backyard engineer things ever since i was really little (some ppl in my area call it "******-rig", but i want to be P.C. and not offend anyone here!) i can't help it --- its in my nature...

so for those of you who are not familiar with my truck, let me explain something....
my original I6 blew up, so a 'shade-tree' mechanic taught me how to rebuild a v8. when we dropped in the v8, we couldnt get it to fit right (or at least we thought that it was sitting way too far back into the firewall). i later learned that the v8 actually sits that far back....
anyways... the solution we came up with was to reverse the v8 motor mounts --- put the left mount on the right and the right mount on the left --- and they may even be upside down? not sure - i'd have to look.... anyways - so the motor sits about 4-5 inches forward of where it would usually sit....
of course --- we had to have a driveshaft manufactured to fit, and the linkage for the pedal, clutch and shifter linkage was all screwed up as a result.... but we managed to find solutions to it all....
i believe that some of the clutch pedal mechanism parts are still from the I6, but the rest of the stuff (brake pedal and shift linkages) are from the v8....
so - the shift linkages are the correct bars and everything, but lining them up is a bit difficult because it has a tendency to interfere with the clutch bar and the brake lines.... (yes, brakelines can be moved, no prob)....
so fine69 (mike) spent about four hours at the ohio meet manufacturing new bushings and spacers, and moving the column, and adjusting all of the mechanisms - so that it would more closely resemble that of a current 1968 3-on-tree.... and now it does...

so did the problem appear after the ohio meet? dunno.... like i said --- after everything was tightened up at the meet, i immediately had vibrations - but the vibrations were due to the U-Joints needed replaced..... and after the U-joints were replaced, yes - this vibration was still existent.... so i would guess that the vibration has been there since the ohio meet --- but i cannot say if the vibration was there BEFORE the ohio meet, because there is no way you could tell (she ran like crap - so it vibrated everything before the meet)....

anyways - in my defense... before the ohio meet, i had never EVER met anyone on the board... and i had never EVER met a mechanic who worked on these trucks.... and i had never EVER driven another 67-72 truck (other than mine), so i had nothing to compare my baby to.... so i thought all of my problems were just every-day problems that came with old vehicles (i just assumed this based on ignorance).... i know better now --- and i can tell you that something is wrong... but i dont know what...

hmmm.... maybe its time to take a trip back to mikey's house?

jewels.

There is nothing wrong with backyard engineering.....it just makes some people nervous! can you say "chicken" :p crazyL